mgo.licio.us

"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

Fitz and Clark were informed of the suspension around a week before it was announced to the media. They were told so in fairness to them, but they were also told it was in confidence, and a part of Michigans official PR stance would be to announce it later, so if they announced it before the school did they would receive an additional 1 game suspension.

Re Clark: Seems strange. Either it's innocent until proven guilty in which case he shouldn't be suspended at all or it's premeditated home invasion in which case it has to be more than a one-game suspension. Will he get re-suspended if he is convicted?

Yes... Quite a few actually. He was just lucky enough to only get burned bad a few times but had things gone a little different things would have been much worse. He was lucky a few times when he should have been burned bad. He did make a few good plays and I think that he is better than he played. I'd imagine having to come in and replace a starter unexpectedly while moral was already down in the atmosphere they were in didn't help.

Countess is a better player right now but I hope the extra playing time helps Avery grow as a player.

I think that ship has sailed. His future at Michigan and possibly the NFL is at WR. He just isn't a good enough passer. Borgess wants to go downfield and stretch the field vertically. Gardner can't make those throws. I haven't seen enough of Bellomy to know if he can. Morris can, but do you really want a true freshman starting?

Shane could be throwing to Treadwell, Gardner, Gallon, Chesson and Darboh. Not to mention Funchess will have had a year to mature physically and Jake Butt is coming in too. The amount of talent that could potentially be there for him to throw to is awesome. Not to mention the kind of o-line we are building. I would love to see Borges throw it around the field the way the Patriots, Saints and Packers do. Imagine a year or 2 of that and the recruits who will want to come here.

I dont think it matters if he's a true freshman, the best players play and we've seen Hoke already prove that. He may have some growing pains but thats what the coaches are there for. We've seen that Morris has the arm strength, and once he's coached up a little bit I think he'll be fine.

If we had more coming back on the Oline next yr in terms of experience in front of shane.

Chad came in to a veteran Oline and WR's to make things easy. Shane would get the benefit of WR's and RB maybe but the Oline would be the downfall.

If Bellomy has made the jump the coaches have said then it might be his job to lose. The bigger problem I see is the lack of depth that wont allow Shane a RS yr to build his muscle and learn the offense without any stress of knowing he could go in at anytime.

Tyler Wilson is the best QB they faced a season ago. Against Bama he was 22-35 for 185 with a pick and 2 TDs. Denard threw for more yards (on fewer opportunities) and accounted for just as many TDs.

LSU didn't score a touchdown in two games against Bama last year. Denard ran for one and threw for one in one game. Their defense held opponents under 200 ypg, Denard topped that with his arm. They held an undefeated LSU team to under 100 yards in the national title game. Even if they aren't as good as last year, until proven otherwise it looks like Denard did as well or better than anybody else against those guys.

And Denard's performance came without his top RB and with a starting wideout playing the position for the first time in his life.

I'm a little tired of all these SEC teams flattering themselves by talking about how great Alabama is, as if that makes all the SEC teams great.

Alabama is a great team, but in my view there is a large gap between Alabama and the rest of the SEC. What Bama did to Michigan, they did to virtually every SEC opponent last year. Indeed, as this poster points out, LSU did not get in the end zone against the Tide in EIGHT quarters of play.

We got dominated, no doubt. But I have watched Bama for years. I'm from Alabama, graduated from Michigan. In several games last year, the Tide did the same -- to Arkansas, Florida, Auburn and LSU. LSU? Less than 100 yards of offense in a national title game? This is the other 'unbeatable' SEC team? Don't think so.

Alabama is a cut above the rest of the league. The departed seniors on defense meant very little. The team had its QB back, veteran lines and returning LBs. The losses were easily plugged. Plus, Saban has handed out like 163 scholarships over the past six seasons. That's an average of 27 guys, every year, with some of those replacing players who were basically cut or run off.

In fact, this Bama team might be better than last year's simply because McCarron is experienced now. Last year, he was trying to nail down the job.

After Bama, I see a bunch of SEC teams that are distant seconds. Does anyone really think John L. Smith is going to lead Arkansas to victory over Bama this year? Not happening. And I think Bama will beat LSU if the game is played in Miles' backyard. It's a coaching mismatch and Saban has increased the talent gap between his team and the rest of the league.

If we had faced any other SEC team on Saturday, it would have been a different game. Who knows if we would've won. But we definitely would've been better able to hang with the other teams in the league. We played the best team in the country. That does not make every other team in their league as good as them, as much as SEC fans want to portray it that way. Their allegedly superior SEC teams have been getting killed by Bama and it will happen again this season.

I can deal with that. From what we've seen of both it seems like it's possibly a wise a move. Especially since Borges seems determined to shift us away from running the QB. If we're not calling Gardner's number in the rushing game I'd rather see him at reciever where he has the physical tools to be truly elite.

More importantly THANK YOU HOLY BABY JESUS that Lewan is okay.

Frank Clark will be nice to have back. Particularly since I think we'll be going to the "fast package" D-line against Air Force, it's good to have someone who can rotate into that without any loss of athleticism.

The glorious return of Toussaint combined with not NFL factory defence should see a solid rushing game return to our Wolverines starting Saturday and continuing throughout the season.

12 guys got into the Bama game at the 5 DL+SLB spots and a number of guys jumped around and played multiple positions. We posted 5 TFL and 2 sacks. Bama posted 5 TFL and 1 sack. Brink and Ojemudia (who I didn't expect anything from) contributed 2 TFL between them. BWC had 5 tackles and a sack. If Pipkins is seeing the field that gives us 4 blue-chip 300+ pounders who can rotate at the tackle spots.

Adding Clark to this mix and not going against the best offensive line in the country is going to yield some very positive results.

Odd that we didn't get another qb...if DG is going to play mainly receiver this year, this hurts his development as a qb...even as a serviceable backup...thus leaving us next year with Bellomy, DG, and Shane....also if for some reason Bellomy is beaten out, kids these days are quick to transfer....qb position seems to be somewhat talented but also somewhat thin.

I look at it like there will be growing pains. The on thing I am still not impressed with is our willingness to tackle guys buy wrapping both arms around the guy to bring him down. It seems as if we have been struggling with that since RR era. I remember when Michigan D was u hold an opponent from scoring until the 4th quarter! I think we will get there soon enough.